Post-human pedagogy task
November 27, 2010 by Noreen Dunnett
These are some ideas for learning in Second Life that I came up with as part of a tender for PFEG to teach secondary school students about personal finance, using the ‘planning a prom’ scenario as a jumping off point.
1.Students to join SL as group, construct avatars.
2.Give each student 100 Lindens.
3.Buy a prom outfit from one of the many outlets – get best value for the lindens you have been allocated – investigate ‘free’ clothes sites.
4.Judge best outfit, in terms of value for money. Students then to construct their own ‘machinima prom night’ and play it for other students.
5.(Variations on this could be – researching a venue in SL)
Extra variables to game
1.Do a ‘location’ competition in SL where students can ‘win’ more lindens to get a better outfit. They have to find certain locations in SL, go there and take a photo of themselves in said location (borrowed from IDEL)
2.Give them list of SL jobs where they can earn money.
After my blog post about my avatar in SL and how I ‘learnt’ without the structure of the MSc, in retrospect, these tasks seem to have a lot in common with Edwards’ ideas of “experimentation and gathering” – what do other people think?
Hi Noreen,
Firstly, apologies for my slightly confusing tweets, I misread and thought I needed to look for a ‘build’ in SL, rather than simply to read your excellent task. (…how often do I tell students to read carefully!)
Secondly, the task looks great, so fun to allow students to free roam such an immersive, dynamic space. This is, I suppose, the equivalent of taking a group on a ‘real’ fieldtrip and letting them go for a walk, mixed with ‘free’ research (that is unguided) on the internet.
Very good idea, and infinite possibilities to tweak and tailor, depending on the group.
Finally, count me in for the christmas party…
Cool ideas for an SL task! I think I can see what you mean about experimenting – in the notion of role play as something of a safe space in which to explore important matters (I’d definitely count how to think about money as one of those, actually). I’m not quite sure in what way you’re thinking about this as a posthuman task, though – is there an extent to which it challenges students’ sense of themselves as (for example) boundaried subjects? How? Maybe (I’m just thinking aloud) in the sense of being dis-located, rematerialised in another space that shares some concerns with their usual space (the prom), but is fundamentally other?
@martin You explained my task so much better than I did! Yes, I liked the combination of exploring and research but also the lack of specific ‘teaching’ – the idea of finding out information in a ‘virtual world’ then creating a response virtually – making judgements about virtual outfits, collaborating with others’ avatars, experimenting with the concept of ‘money’ in a virtual environment. What do lindens actually ‘mean’?
Glad you are coming to the party – now I’m worried I won’t be able to find a time. Wed and Thurs evenings are out in that week and Fri afternoon is a little tricky but do-able.
@jen Yes, the posthuman elements were the ‘experimentation’ and ‘gathering’ in the sense that students are experimenting with their sense of place and navigation, the concept of money and whether ‘lindens’ have any resonance for them. Also as you say, their sense of self, and as Sian says in her article, feeling ‘uncertain’, off-balance and ‘uncanny’ because of the unfamiliar environment, possible new ‘rules of interaction’, whether that is communication or commerce.
Hi Noreen, I like the idea of controlled experimentation within your task, and I think that SL lends itself well to notions of the uncanny. Sian’s 2008 paper describes how students felt like “ghosts”, or that they were experiencing something “other”. There is also an example of how one student was freaked out by an encounter with another avatar that seemed to be acting strangely – almost an undermining of ontological security.
Hiya Noreen,
We do a much more simplified version based on Fiona Littleton’s treasure hunt concept, like we did in IDEL – sending the equine students out to find horse riding/trekking locations on SL and sharing them with the group with their pictures submitted to a poll for voting.
We found it helped the students to feel more embodied in SL, but we also found they highlighted the feeling of safety when returning to our Easter Bush Farm – a feeling of “home” – which was interesting.
The winning image showed a student on a horse against the sky, a photo taken from below, as if she and the horse were in flight, which deeply affected us all, and yet was the most “uncanny” image – fascinating!
Fascinating example, Sharon, thanks for telling me about that. Did they find many horse-riding locations? SL seems a pretty rich environment in that you can usually find examples of most real life situations, environments to explore and give students this ‘embodied’ but slightly uncanny experience.
I have a lot to thank the IDEL module (and the course generally) for in terms of teaching ideas. It’s freed up my thinking about discovery and active learning, even if technical restrictions in institutions sometimes ‘tie’ them right back down!